Ex-communist Europe

Georgia's elections

Outrage in Tbilisi

FLY into Tbilisi, and first-time visitors may be pleasantly surprised. The airport is clean, slick and efficient. The visa regime is relaxed. Unlike the crime-ridden 1990s, rates of criminality mean are extremely low. Questionable driving standards aside visitors are safe. To underline the welcome, border guards now return your passport with a small bottle of red wine.

In its efforts to modernise Georgia, the government actively courts foreigners as tourists, investors and allies. For ordinary Georgians, this transformation has costs too. A draconian approach to law and order means very low acquittal rates and stiff sentences for those accused of crimes. Georgia has one of the highest prison populations per capita in the world.

For years, Georgia’s public defender has complained about the abuse of inmates in the country’s correctional facilities. For years, the government has ignored him, and victims have suffered in silence. On September 18th the release of graphic videos showing the beating, rape and humiliation of prisoners in one of Tbilisi’s jails changed that. Thousands of outraged Georgians took to the streets to demand change.

The government moved quickly to limit the damage. Mikheil Saakashvili, the president (pictured above), said he was “very shocked” and “angry” and vowed to punish those responsible. Patrol police replaced prison guards in the worst jails. The prisons minister, Khatuna Kalmakhelidze, and Bakho Ahkalaia, the interior minister who oversaw the prisons from 2005 to 2008, resigned. In a dramatic twist, Giorgi Tugushi, public defender since 2009, became the new prisons minister with a mandate for sweeping reform.

A war of words deepened the country’s political polarisation. Mr Saakashvili claimed that the abuse was a remnant from the country’s “dark past”; the way the government responded, he says, shows its true credentials. Yet Vladimir Bendukadze, the former prison guard who released the videos and is now seeking asylum in Belgium, claims that Mr Akhalaia sanctioned prisoner abuse when he was prisons minister. Demonstrators called for Mr Akhalaia to face justice. “I knew very well that we had such violent authorities”, said Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire opposition leader. The president, said Mr Ivanishvili, should resign

The big question now is what impact the scandal will have on the parliamentary elections on October 1st. Mr Ivanishvili called people to channel their anger towards the ballot box, later warning them not to give the authorities a pretext to cancel the elections. Mr Saakashvili, meanwhile, insisted that the videos were released just before the elections as part of a Russian plot to derail the country’s reforms and bring it back under malign Russian influence. As they cast their vote, Georgians should “open their eyes widely” to what is really at stake, he says.

An independent poll in August by the National Democratic Institute appeared to give the ruling party (37%) a healthy lead over Mr Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream (13%). Intriguingly, 43% of respondents were undecided or refused to answer. Opposition politicians claim that’s because they’re too afraid to state their anti-government feelings. Whatever the reason, the vote is likely to be closer than headline numbers indicate. The prison scandal may make it closer still.

With constitutional changes due to come into effect next year, the position of prime minister will assume greater power, and the role of the president will diminish. As parliament is responsible for choosing the next prime minister, these elections are particularly significant. A year ago, most commentators assumed that the 2012 parliamentary elections would consolidate the ruling party’s hold on power. Yet Mr Ivanishvili’s surprising entry into politics last October provided the government with the first genuine competition it has faced since the 2003 Rose Revolution. The fight since has not been pretty.

Georgia’s western allies have called these elections a litmus test of the country’s development. Numerous foreign dignitaries have visited Georgia in recent months to ensure that the democratic process stays on track. Georgian politics was already highly charged before the scandal broke. Now there’s even more to play for.

When a law is not just passed, but enforced and applied... it's draconian? The local citizens' obligation to obey the law is good for visitors but cost the hosts too much?
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Who wrote this article, a Occupy Wall St activist?

"Georgia has one of the highest prison populations per capita in the world."
The key words are "per capita", - Georgia is a small country. How does the number compare with per capita prison populations in other former Soviet republics ? Are the laws against corruption, bribery, abuse of office, fraudulent business, narcotics trade, etc. similar in all former Soviet republics ? There are clearly more questions than answers.

The Georgian system is far from flawless but the U.S. prison population per capita is even higher. We would all be fools if we decided based on this information that the U.S. justice system is as bad as that of for example Russia or China.

First things first: if you want to retain a shred of credibility, DON'T change the grammatical subject halfway through a sentence. 'FLY into bla, AND FIRST-TIME VISITORS bla...' And rates of criminality cannot be UNLIKE (or rather, can only be unlike) the 'crime-ridden 1990s' because they're different logical categories -- the ones are rates, the others are years, geddit? Back to school, G.E.!

Saakashvili pretends to be pro-Western governor, while he disrespects and absolutely ignores the basic principles of democracy! Under his governance policemen were shooting people for death in the streets, people were massively tortured and sodomized in prisons, the idea of private property has disappeared totally (any government official could grasp whatever he wanted), like in USSR the TV broadcasting was only government propaganda, no freedom of speech and thousands of political prisoners.
The he could not hide his violent hatred against Georgians with different political preferences and announced that all them as the obsolete and totally useless class of society should be smashed and eliminated!!!
He did his best and many was suffered and literally murdered due to his ‘zero-tolerance’ mantra, but fortunately his capabilities were limited and he was finally ousted!!!
2nd October was the happiest day in Georgia’s recent history after NAZI regime of Saakashvili was terminated….

Saakashvili pretends to be pro-Western governor, while he disrespects and absolutely ignores the basic principles of democracy! Under his governance policemen were shooting people for death in the streets, people were massively tortured and sodomized in prisons, the idea of private property has disappeared totally (any government official could grasp whatever he wanted), like in USSR the TV broadcasting was only government propaganda, no freedom of speech and thousands of political prisoners.
The he could not hide his violent hatred against Georgians with different political preferences and announced that all them as the obsolete and totally useless class of society should be smashed and eliminated!!!
He did his best and many was suffered and literally murdered due to his ‘zero-tolerance’ mantra, but fortunately his capabilities were limited and he was finally ousted!!!
2nd October was the happiest day in Georgia’s recent history after NAZI regime of Saakashvili was terminated….